How does image optimization benefit you in SEO? Image optimization counts as one of the basic steps for your SEO campaign. The process of achieving a good search engine ranking is getting more complicated by the day as the search engines are growing smarter. Your content quality helps in reaching to the top provided you keep in mind some important aspects. Image Optimization is one of those aspects which need to be taken care of. People often see image optimization as a normal process for SEO, but there is much more to it. There are numerous characteristics of image optimization that help you to achieve better search engine rankings.

While doing on-page SEO, Image optimization demands equal attention as well. On-page optimization is one of the main pillars of SEO and image optimization is one important factor of it. Images are always one of the prime components on the web. As they say, ‘ a picture is better than thousand words. Proper rendition of an image can transmit the message to the mass but a substandard image can destroy your reputation as well. Apart from this, images can lead you to the traffic from Google Image Search and other Image Search Engines.

Here we have explored some image optimization techniques for better SEO.

Alt Tags are Must for Image Optimization:

Entering proper Alt Tags is one of the major factors of image optimization. Here Alt stands for “Alternative”. These alt tags are visible when the images fail or take long time to load. Most search engines read text and not images, so it is important to tag your images properly. Search engines see your image location as an empty space. These empty spaces are not good for your overall SEO. Consequently, search engines read the alt tags of the image. The alt tag provided in your image also tells these search engines about the topic. For better results, keep the alt tags short and descriptive. Put in keywords that are search engine friendly but try not to overdo it.

Image Relevancy:

Relevant images are another important factor for image optimization. Coming across irrelevant images in the content can be quite annoying as a reader. When a user sees an irrelevant image attached, your content loses its credibility.

Size and Hosting of Images:

The image size is a vital factor for the overall user experience. The page load time of your site increases if the image size is heavy. On an average, a user waits around 10 seconds for the image to load and if it doesn’t happen, he clicks back. Subsequently, you start losing your potential users if this problem persists. After Google’s Panda update, loading time of an image plays a prominent role in SEO rankings. Total visit time on the site has now become a factor for SEO algorithm. It is strongly recommended to keep your images shorter in size. Bring Yahoo Smushit in use for keeping the images size short. This is a great tool which wipes out the extra bytes of the images and makes them lighter.

File name:

The importance of keywords is same for the images as well as the URL. Rich keyword in images helps search engines in determining its relevancy to the content. Try to avoid default image file names, for Instance, an image name like ‘DSC00101020’ does not reveal much information. Keep your file names descriptive and separate the keywords with a ‘-’ (Hyphen).

Free Image Sources:

When looking images for your content on Google, try to filter out the copyrighted images. This won’t provide you an array of options but eventually it will be helpful. Go to Google Image Search and change the usage rights to ‘labelled for reuse’. If you use an image that is a copyright of another company, it will affect you adversely.